Welcome to Wayne's Flight Log

Arrived at ORH at 6:30 AM... today Jeff let me lift the airplane off the runway again, full coaching on everything. Today was my second flight, and the focus was on the 4 fundamentals of flight - Pitch and Bank, Straight and Level. We worked on climbs and descents, and Jeff is teaching me how the airplane controls don't do what you think they should. For example - you expect to climb when you pull back on the stick, but it makes you slow down. You expect to speed up when you increase the throttle, but instead you climb. So what I am trying to learn, is that to climb, you increase the throttle. If we want to speed up, we point the nose down. The airplane can fly in any attitude you want or need to - nose-down or nose-high. And yes: to climb, you do pull the stick back but without adding any throttle, the airplane will slow, and the wings will eventually stall if enough back-pressure is held. Same thing is true in reverse - point the nose down and you land longer. Point the nose up and you land shorter. If you want to descent, reduce the power. Very interesting, and THIS is going to take some time to get used to. Jeff landed the plane, the tower told us to make a short/steep approach, so I'm definitely not at that point yet.

Sunday April 30, 2006 - Lesson 3 - 3 Total Landings - Includes 1 Today

Arrived at ORH at 6:30 AM... today Jeff let me lift the airplane off the runway again, full coaching on everything as before. Today we flew out to our practice area - western MA, and the focus was on continuing the 4 fundamentals, particularly reviewing the essence of climbing and descending (using power) and pitching the airplane (using stick). After a little time on this, Jeff had me add full flaps and slow the airplane to Vs - Minimum Steady Flight Speed, 63 Knots. Adding full flaps - 40 degrees - really makes the nose jump up. To negate this pitch up, you have to apply down-pressure on the stick, in a coordinated way. Very interesting...
After we practiced slow flight in different configurations - full flaps, no flaps, he had me do a power-on stall... which is done at cruise power, (no flaps) and continually feeding in more backpressure on the stick. The nose pitches to an unbelievable high attitude and the airspeed bleeds off. Pretty soon, you get the wing buffeting and the stall horn goes off. At which point, as Jeff says, its Power Up, Pitch Up and Clean Up. In other words, you add immediate full power, down pitch on the stick and then clean up the airplane attitude. We also did stalls in slow flight landing configuration, which means 63 knots, full flaps, and the same routine as above. Even though we did not take the airplane to a full-blown stall, I understand that in a full stall, as lift dies, the "most-stalled" wing will break and pitch the aircraft down sharply. In a spin, both wings are stalled, (one more than the other) - something I hope to never experience. I'm reading a great book, written in, like 1944, called Stick and Rudder, and there is an interesting passage. It says, when you are practicing stalls, the ground comes up to you and says "Boo!". But in a full, unanticipated stall, the ground simply comes after you. I understand many pilots don't realize when they are in stalls, which is why I suppose they spend so much time teaching them to you, so you can recognize and respond. The ONLY was to recover from a stall - and avoid a spin - is to push the nose down. It goes against human nature to want to dive the airplane when it's already diving. But I know this is a lesson that must absolutely be learned and adhered to - no matter what: in a stall, push the nose goes DOWN to recover. More on May 5.

Friday May 5, 2006 - Lesson 4 - 4 Total Landings - Includes 1 Today

Arrived at ORH at 6:00 AM... I am getting pretty good at flying the plane off the runway, but still have some radical veering on rotation. I am still really just getting used to feeling the airplane and its responses to control inputs. Jeff says as time goes by, things will "slow down", particularly in the landing stage. Right now there seems to be a lot going on, a lot to have to focus on at the same time, and sometimes, I reach for the wrong control, or do the wrong thing. Like, when Jeff tells me to climb. The inclination is to pull the stick back, but again - its really increasing the throttle that makes the airplane climb. Today we did more stalls, more slow flight and started work on turns: 10 and 20 degree turns. "Turning", for me has always been one of the fun parts of flying, so its not something I worry about or really even think much about. I just love the sensation of smoothly pivoting on a wing, all the while applying back pressure to hold the altitude, and finally, to recover from the turn, a quick little opposite-rudder brings the wings level quite nicely, thank you very much. My previous instructor taught me I could turn quite steeply - 45 degrees, hold the back pressure on the stick to maintain altitude and apply opposite rudder to snap out of the turn. I really love that sensation! Jeff has not mentioned this technique to me, and I am wondering if it is a given that pilots should use this technique, or if maybe not too many do. It works, I love it and it really gets the wings level without any wing-waggling. Still making small steps, I am realizing flying is not something you learn quickly, but rather a series of small steps all put together that equals a pilot. Scheduled to fly again on Sunday - more then.

Sunday May 7, 2006 - Lesson 5 - 5 Total Landings - Includes 1 Today

Arrived at ORH at 6:30 AM... Today was a continuation of Friday's lesson - more stalls and turns, with an added twist. Today we did 45 degree turns to the left and right. WOW, that is COOL and FUN. That's a LOT of ground looking up at you at that angle. Its really very much fun, and no problem for me. Just remember to watch a point on the windshield and hold it there - steady - on the horizon to maintain your altitude, using the stick to keep the point on the windshield on the horizon. Really, not a big deal. For me, I get so enthralled in the turns and recovery that I forget to watch for my starting point. So my 360 degree turn at 45 degrees is sometimes 400 degrees or 320 degrees. So, I am aware of this and will watch for it going forward. The whole purpose of a turn in flight, I suppose is achieve a compass heading or bearing. So its "probably" a good idea to watch the heading indicator to see where you are. Ahhh. Also today, Jeff is introducing me to the forward slip. He says he didn't learn it until after he had his license. And he is really good at it, so I am looking forward to learning. My timidity in this maneuver has prevented me from doing it... it can result in a different sight picture where the angle seems quite steep angle down, and the purpose is to shed altitude quickly without adding speed... by exposing more of the airplane (the side of the airplane) to the relative wind, thereby reducing altitude (fast). An interesting maneuver, one I hope - and will need - to learn. Scheduled to fly again on Tuesday, more then.

Tuesday, May 9, 2006 - Rained Out

Thursday May 18, 2006 - Lesson 6 - 10 Total Landings - Includes 5 Today

Arrived at ORH at 6:30 AM... today we flew out to the practice area.. Jeff is letting me fly the airplane more and more, but of course, I still need -lots- of help when landing. We are getting is lots of landings, and even though I am tense at the flare, I do understand the concept and am improving with each landing. Today's primary lesson was again focused on pitch and power... I am still trying to understand the concept.... but it is clear that if you want to climb a little, you can do either... pitch up.... or add power. Pitch-up changes the angle of attack, slows the airspeed of the aircraft and can ultimately lead to a stall. Power-up lets the airplane climb without (apparently) - changing the aircraft's angle of attack. For minor climbs during cruise, you might just pitch up a bit. For climbs during landing - say - where you have fallen below the glide-slope, you'll want to add power. For a go-around, you'd use pitch and power... so it seems the trick is knowing when to do what, but for most situations, he seems to be saying... that power up is the preferred method of climbing.

Wednesday May 21, 2006 - Lesson 7 - 15 Total Landings - Includes 5 Today

Arrived at ORH at 6:30 AM... today we flew out to the practice area. Today, we continued to do more work on pitch and power, and we again practiced stalls - power off and power on. Both seem pretty basic... power on stalls result under full power with the nose pitched higher and higher until the buffet and stall warning occurs... then its pitch down with full power, attempting to minimize altitude loss. As he says, Power up, Pitch Up Clean Up. Power and Pitch up to climb, then once the aircraft is in stable flight, clean up... reduce power and pitch. Same process with power off stalls. I am not really sure at this point why both are taught if the recovery process is the same for both, except that you might consider that one could occur while taking off and one could occur while landing. Also, it gives you a sense of what it feels like in each case. Also, definitely, with the power off stall, I notice the aircraft wants to pull to the left big time, so a lot of right-rudder is required to hold the heading. This phenomenon is know as P-Factor: "P-factor, also known as asymmetric blade effect and asymmetric disc effect, is an aerodynamic phenomenon experienced by a moving propeller with a high angle of attack that produces an asymmetrical center of thrust." You can learn more about P-Factor at Wikipedia. At any rate, the stall experience in the airplane and the recovery seems to be the same in each case: pitch down and add full power, then clean up once stable flight is re-achieved. I'm sure there's much more work to come on stalls.

Wednesday May 24, 2006 - Lesson 8 - 20 Total Landings - Includes 5 Today

Arrived at ORH at 6:30 AM... not too much to report... today was the second day of practice for Touch and Go's. I am getting the feel for how the airplane responds to control inputs a little better now, but still everything I do is a little timid. And the airplane is kind of swerving to the left as we take off. I know it has to be rudder input - or lack thereof, so this is another point I need to be aware of and think about when taking off. Jeff is spending less time on the controls now, but he is still coaching me through 100% of the process. I have not yet begun to do any radio work, but I think it's pretty cool, yet I can see that it complicates things a bit - you're not just flying - you have to concentrate on flying and communicating. I don't have a clue how to work the radios yet, or even what to say. More to come soon.

Memorial Day, Monday, May 29, 2006 - Lesson 9 - 26 Total Landings - Includes 6 Today
Arrived at ORH at 6:00 AM... winds were reported a steady 11 mph crosswind across runway 290. AH thank goodness for small revelations. For the past several lessons, the airplane upon rotation has taken a nasty swerve to the left... despite holding in right-rudder. Jeff has chastised me for using right ailerons (silly me its not a steering wheel), particularly with the wind from the left. Today, it all came together. Its not just holding right-rudder - its about holding an increasing amount of right-rudder and adjusting it as we go down the runway, and upon rotation until the aircraft gains speed to overcome the propeller torque effect.

Jeff wants me to pick a point and turn left into the pattern at a good rate - 20 degree turn or so... but wants the turn onto base to be at 30 degrees - crisp, to leave plenty of time to set up for landing. I'm feeling confident and good at managing the airplane all the way down to the final stage of landing.

For today, I made 8 landings, no probs at all getting airborne, going around the circuit, applying flaps, all proper turns, etc. The problems occur for me around 50 feet off the ground. Worcester being Worcester, there are the invariable gusts that take you from one side of the runway to the other, and it can be a struggle to get the airplane back on track. I also have to learn to fly level above the runway longer - to be less eager to descend - I "know" the plane will descend by itself as speed decreases and angle of attack increases. Its just a matter of nursing the airplane down onto the runway until we get the flare and a s-m-o-o-t-h touchdown. As Jeff said, all my landings were survivable, with at least one good one thrown in, but I'm not satisfied and I know I can - and have- to do better. Three days from now, I'll be back at it.

Thursday, June 1, 06 - Lesson 10 - 33 Total Landings - Includes 7 Today
Arrived at ORH at 7:00 AM, visibility was one mile, winds were calm. Wow, what a great day... sometimes things click and sometimes they don't. This was one of those days where I squeaked nearly all of my 8 landings - no bounces, but one hard landing... the rest were very good and two were probably the best I have ever made - smooth... soft... nice. Even Jeff was impressed, and said that the bouncer was a good one too. The best part was he was hands-off the controls for every landing, so I feel like I'm "getting it".

Today, lesson 10, was my first day working the radio. Its contact ground for taxi, tower take-off, and no departure clearance needed. Its pretty cool - I really felt like a pilot today! Only thing is, on the last landing, we had traffic on the final, and the controller was delayed in responding to our mid-point call... by the time he responded, we were way extended past the usual turn point, when he instructed a short final due to a Skyhawk two miles out. So, it was very cool, seeing what its like with a bit of "busy" going on in the cockpit, aviating, communicating, getting set for landing, all the while coordinating speed, turns, flaps and approach.

Also, I forgot to mention, last lesson, Jeff gave me a 7 page pre-solo, take-home test. He said the FAA requires it, and I think he thought it would take me a month to complete... fortunately, I had purchased an FAR 2006 book, as well as a used POH for my make/year of aircraft, so over a couple nights, probably 5 hours time, I was able to complete the test.

I feel confident I could solo now, but I know Jeff wants to see more confident landings, and also discuss the other instructions I could unexpectedly receive from the tower, like short final, extend downwind, change to right departing traffic, etc. Its easy to get distracted on the radio while in the pattern, and I know I need to concentrate on the aviation part... as one of my turns to base was late and discombobulated.

So the adventure continues again this coming Sunday, 6/4/06.

Sunday - June 4, 2006 - Rained Out
Arrived at ORH at 8:00 AM, amid rain and visibility of less than one mile. No way we were going to fly today. Jeff spent the time reviewing my answers to the Pre-Solo Test, and at the end we discussed radio procedures. The test is a formality - open book and all, but still took a serious commitment to look up the answers. Anyway, he gave me (my first) endorsement in my logbook for passing the FAA-required Pre-Solo test. Hopefully I can sneak in some more instruction time this week.

Monday - June 5, 2006 - Lesson 11 - 39 Total Landings - Includes 6 Today
Arrived at ORH at 10:00 AM today - after getting home yesterday from my rained out instruction, I checked the weather and today and tomorrow are the only decent days predicted for this entire week, weekend included. So I did the prudent thing, and scheduled some instruction. When I arrived at the airport, cloud cover was closing in, by the time we lifted off, skies were fully occluded with visibility of 5 miles but ceiling of 6,000 feet, and winds calm. In other words, the perfect day for more Touch and Goes. I have now mastered the use of the rudder on rotation and climb out, so the nose points straight, and my pullback on the yoke is mostly smooth and uneventful. Today we used Runway 33 which is 5000' long and 100' wide, as opposed to the more usual Runway 29, which is 7000' long and 150' wide.

At one point on final I was a little high.... so Jeff demonstrated again the side-slip. That maneuver is quite a thrill ride, really gets the airplane down fast without increasing ground speed, which is the whole point of the thing I suppose. Anyway, I feel that when I can master that, that I will be able to land confidently anywhere, anytime.

All 6 landings were quite good, no bounces and a few fairly kissed the runway on touchdown, with no assistance on any controls from Jeff. With no cross-winds, I am definitely the master of the airplane. But we know what that means.... much more work on cross-wind landings will be soon upcoming, as will those exciting slips.

The biggest issue for me at the moment is the radio work. Being at Worcester (Class D during the daytime) and quite a busy place today, the radios were active. I'm much more nervous about the radio work than the flying. For example, at the end of the downwind leg, the tower gave the instruction to turn right for a 360 and report back on the downwind leg. First of all, its not that easy to understand what they say - they speak so quickly... and second of all, I am really just now beginning to get a clue as to what to say back to them.

Bottom line advice to anyone wanting to learn to fly - sure, you'll solo sooner at a remote airport with no control tower... but does that make you a better pilot? For me, the answer is that I want to fly often, on business and pleasure, to different airports on flights of different duration. I pondered long and hard learning at this airport because of the tower controlled airspace, but felt for my future plans, it would make me a better pilot to learn early, and to get comfortable asap with ATC communications. I definitely still feel that way, and don't mind sacrificing an earlier solo for the ATC-Comm experience. Scheduled to fly again this Thursday, but weather definitely "iffy" - we'll see.

Thursday, June 8, 2006 - No Flight - Weather Minimums

Sunday, June 11, 2006 - Lesson 12 - 40 Total Landings - Includes 1 Today
Arrived at the airport with sunny clear skies, wind gusts up to 20 KTS. We took off from runway 29-er with winds at our quarter, and had a pretty rough ride up to 3500'. From there, Jeff had me practice slow flight, 360 turns in slow flight, power-off stalls, engine out and emergency landing procedures, also did S turns across the power lines and before we landed, 'got a couple of practice slips in.

It was a pretty good day all in all, with an uneventful landing, although Jeff took over and did a few steep slips to get us down to the proper altitude - tower had cleared us to land direct from the downwind leg in order to beat a 757 coming in, so we cut the base short and headed for the numbers - were a bit high at the outset. Reduce power to 1500', full flaps and maintain 73 KTS, Jeff threw the two slips in here, dumped the altitude, then turned the controls back over to me a couple hundred feet off the ground. Initially I flared a little to early, and started up again, but finally got the plane settled down, and then re-flared to a smooth touchdown. N-I-C-E.

Gusty Gusty Gusty today - between the ground and 3500' we had at least one -really- good drop ... sometimes the plane feels more like a boat in a good sea than an airplane, the way it gets tossed around.

But 26-Juliet hasn't let us down once, not for a second, so I have good confidence in the airplane and am gaining my own confidence.

I've really learned, once you get the runway lined up, just play it cool, take your time and make small corrections as needed. Close to the ground we use ailerons only for drift and the rudder for directional control, left-or-right. Today I also stopped by to get finger-printed for my ramp pass, required prior to solo. I'm getting there... one day.... soon, maybe.

More to Come on Tuesday... and Thursday.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006 - Lesson 13 - 48 Total Landings - Includes 8 Today

Arrived at the airport at 7: 00 AM with sunny clear skies and completely calm winds.

I was a bit thrown from the very beginning today, when Jeff said... Why don't we go up and do a few touch and goes and maybe a solo or two?! NOT something I was expecting to hear. Yes I do feel pretty confident handling the plane, but am never quite sure what/how to respond when the tower inevitably changes the game plan. I think my trepidation regarding Jeff's "solo" comment definitely threw me off a little bit today - things were not as good as they had been - all the landings were fine, but there was some definite regression in my flying - flared too high, or too late, or altitude drifting up or down while in the pattern, or confusion on the base turn: managing the throttle and flaps, etc., although all the landings were fine, with one minor bounce. The thing that really catches me off guard, are all the change instructions from the Tower. For instance, today it was a couple unexpected right-pattern requests while on downwind, then a request to switch back to left-pattern, then a request to switch back to right-pattern for two touch and goes, then a request to switch back again to left-pattern and a runway change, and on top of the runway change, a short-approach request while on the downwind.

It was all fine, with Jeff coaching me what to say about 50% of the time, a little unnerving to be cleared #1 to land and watching helicopter traffic approaching straight-in for the #2 slot, while we were turning onto final. Once cleared to land, the instruction was to cross runway 33 and hold short of (taxiway) Foxtrot - which was a new instruction - normally after landing, we are simply cleared to taxi direct to the ramp. I am sure if Jeff were not there, I'd muddle my way through it, or simply plead "Unable, student pilot", which as every pilot knows, are the "universal magic words" at every control tower, and I am still glad to be at a tower-controlled airport, but it definitely adds a touch of complication to the mix. Anyway, it was a beautiful day, and any day you can fly is a good day, which it was. I am scheduled again for this Thursday and will hope for being more on my game.

Friday, June 16, 2006 - Lesson 14 - 55 Total Landings - Includes 7 Today
Arrived at the airport at 6:30 AM with sunny, clear skies and a 5-7 Kt NW wind. Also, a small amount of turbulent air above the runway, probably 50-100 feet AGL.

Oh, regression-regression-regression. My landing troubles are continuing, maybe even getting worse. Today was completely focused on touch-and-goes and remaining in the pattern. The process of landing is fairly mechanical and pretty calm now. Only thing is, on takeoff, I have been climbing the airplane at Vx (Best Angle of Climb = 63 KIAS), because I like to get to within 300 feet of pattern altitude before making the crosswind turn - It just makes it a little less busy when you are already at the pattern altitude before you begin the downwind turn, as opposed to continuing to climb to the pattern altitude during the downwind leg. Today Jeff told me that I should really maintain Vy, not Vx. (Vy = Best Rate of Climb = 79 KIAS). Because Vy is a less steep angle, the engine gets more cooling which is good (because the engine is air-cooled only). And also, because you're climbing faster, you're better able to overcome any downdrafts such as those we encountered today. OK. So I guess we'll be climbing at Vy from now on. (KIAS - Knots Indicated Air Speed)

Troubles compounding today... had a male controller who - to me - just sounded like he was mumbling, not enunciating very clearly at all. Jeff seemed okay with it, maybe it was me or my headset. This is troubling to me, because if it were just me up there, I'd be asking him to repeat everything he said, just about, anyway. I much prefer the female controller whom I can understand perfectly.

As for the landings today... well, I'm doing everything I'm supposed to - except now I am definitely flaring way too high and not making great landings. Survivable and controlled but again today, there was to be no "runway-kissing". Having a real problem and perplexed what to do to fix it. As a result, during one landing I dropped the airplane onto the runway pretty hard. Ummhhfff!!! Which resulted in a high bounce and Jeff taking the wheel to settle the airplane so I could re-flare. Other than that, no real catastrophes, but not what I would call landings to be proud of either. So I need to continue to work on landings, just when I thought I pretty much had it down.

Not to make today's journal too long, but another thing worth mentioning. This little crosswind today. Its a weird thing, when on final approach and coming in for a landing... to be tracking in a straight line towards the runway, but having the airplane cocked to a ... I dunno... 10 degree right-angle? Then as we entered the ground effect, the crosswind mostly disappeared and we used just a smidge of left-rudder to straighten out the airplane to line up with the runway. Bet its really even more weird with a stronger crosswind and more crab angle - I'm sure I'll get the chance to find out. Well my big task now is to get back to more consistent landings - get the airplane flared at the right height above ground level and I should be fine. Jeff also said today, that before I solo, he wants me to have more practice on emergency and power-off landings. Fine with me. Flying again on Monday morning.

Monday, June 19, 2006 - No Flight - Weather Minimums

Thursday, June 22, 2006 - Lesson 15 - 61 Total Landings - Includes 6 Today

Arrived at the airport at 7:30 AM with partly cloudy skies and a steady 12 Kt wind out of the northeast, directly across RW15. From approx 100 feet AGL to 1000 feet the winds were quite gusty and really bounced the airplane around quite a bit, so much so that it was impossible to hold a constant attitude or heading. Also, a small layer of really turbulent air, probably 75-150 feet AGL.

Today we started with slow flight, power-off stalls and go-arounds, but went back to continue practicing touch-and-goes, but my game was off, not having had much sleep, I felt pretty tired from the start, and emotionally a little drained because of some work-related issues. All the landings were good, one or two were great (kissed it), but because of the wind, my patterns were not squared, I forgot instructions just given to me, I couldn't determine wind direction, had trouble holding the proper altitude, my concentration was way off, I did not execute the power up/pitch up/clean up routine very well and it was all a bit confusing in the beginning. Fortunately things did improve and my landings were pretty good.

I have resolved to try a different headset next time because a lot of what I hear on the headset sounds muffled, garbled or distorted. I was having trouble even understanding instructions from Jeff over the headset, so I am hoping a new headset will improve things. I am also going to purposefully come in high on final a few times if Jeff says ok, so I can start to get the feel for slipping the airplane myself.

Taxi and Runway clearances were new and I didn't hear them well... this time it was taxi via Echo to RW15. It sounds like such a simple direction, but they are giving you so much other information (altimeter, winds, temperature, pattern instructions, traffic advisories) that it is pretty hard (for me) to sift out what I really need to know at that moment. I am also learning to be more aggressive on the controls, but again that is a difficult and slow thing to learn, because you want to fly efficiently, but you definitely do not want to put the airplane into an attitude where it will get out of control or where you feel you might lose control. It turns out I think, that flying is a lot about finding that "control envelope" On Day One, every control input you make feels risky, but over time you learn that every control input is not risky, and you can therefore learn that making larger or more dramatic control inputs to get faster or more direct results is not necessarily risky - it may be required, in fact, such as when slipping to lose altitude, or worst case, maneuvering to avoid another aircraft.

I am scheduled to fly again tomorrow morning, but weather is expected to be much like it was today, which was not great, but still, all-in-all a very good learning experience. Flying is not easy, but I can see it is a lot of repetition - and if you are flying in controlled airspace - a lot of listening.

My landings, and judging height above the runway is getting better, and I learned to crab today - for the first time it was needed - and I was able to hold altitude and heading pretty well, as well as I made a few independent calls to the tower to request verification of the pattern they wanted us to be in, so it really is coming along fine, which is what Jeff says too. I'm gonna get a good night's sleep tonight, you can bet. More tomorrow. Gotta' keep smilin'.

Friday, June 23, 2006 - No Flight - Weather Minimums

Saturday, June 24, 2006 - Lesson 16 - 67 Total Landings - Includes 6 Today

Arrived at the airport around 1:00 PM, which was a last minute reschedule after bad weather cancelled my 7:30 AM lesson.

Winds were light, and partly cloudy skies were in order, with thunderstorms moving in towards the end of the lesson. Final landing saw the rains begin to come down heavily. Today, upon arriving at the airport, the first thing I did was switch headphones, which seemed to help. Understanding communications was a bit better, and my landings were also much better. I made a point to have greater awareness of what was going on outside the window upon landing, as opposed to just focusing on the end of the runway. Kissed it a couple times, 4 decent landings, and one where I flared too high and caused a pretty good bounce, which required re-flare. Winds were light which was a big help, of course. Going around the circuit to make a landing or touch and go is getting to be boring routine, except the tower calls make things a bit more exciting.

'Couple interesting calls from the tower to look for traffic, which with no contact resulted in a request from the tower to do a 360 and contact back on downwind. Tower called for a couple right-closed-patterns and even a short approach, all which went pretty well. Then there was another call which I did not understand at all and needed Jeff to interpret, again to look for traffic on final (no contact again) and 360 around to downwind. Still glad Jeff is in the plane. Weather lately here - past two weeks - has been terrible - either cloudy, rainy or windy, so there has been no option to solo. I am really wanting a bright, clear, sunny day with no wind so I can get that behind me, and get on to other things. Next lesson Tuesday morning at 6:00 AM - yikes. Praying for better weather.

Tuesday June 27, 2006 - No Flight - Weather Minimums

Thursday, June 29, 2006 - No Flight - Weather Minimums

Friday, June 30, 2006 - No Flight - Weather Minimums

SOLO DAY

Saturday July 1, 2006 - Lesson 17

73 Total Landings Includes 6 Today + Solo Flight (3 Solo Landings) -

Soloed in 14.6 Hrs Total Flight Time 2006

Oh Solo Mia!!!! An absolutely beautiful, clear, picture-perfect July 1 dawned today, with 8-9 kts of wind. I had a feeling that today would be the day, and indeed it was. After arriving at the airport, Jeff told me to be sure to bring my log book into the airplane, (a good sign). After two near-perfect touch and go’s, he told me get clearance from the tower for a full-stop landing, with taxi back to Amity (the flight school). Approaching Amity, he told me to stop, asked for my log book….endorsed it and my medical cert for solo flight...and after bidding me a quick “enjoy it”, hopped out, latched the door, and I was on my own. YIKES.

I tuned the radio to ATIS (Automatic Terminal Information System) for the updated weather and conditions and called Ground and requested permission to taxi with “Foxtrot”, (the latest update), but had trouble making contact with Ground. Ahhhh, then I realized I was still tuned to, and attempting to transmit on the ATIS frequency… (its a "listen-only" frequency!). After getting this little fiasco squared away, I taxied to the hold-short area of the active runway, ran through the final pre-flight checklist and engine run-up... Then, transmitted something like "Worcester Tower, 8226 Juliet’ is ready for departure on runway 29-er, remaining in the pattern; be advised 26-Juliet is a student pilot on initial solo”, which sort of put things into perspective for the tower folks, and … ah… for the student pilot as well. The tower cleared me directly onto the active runway for takeoff for a left closed pattern.

It must be one of the most awesome and awe-inspiring moments one can have… as Pilot-in-Command for the first time, sitting on the centerline of a 7000’ active runway with the assignment of “#1 for takeoff”. So its... release brakes, full power, hold in a little right-rudder as we go down the runway to keep ‘er pointing straight, rotate the airplane at 60 KTS and... Off we go, and hold the airplane at Vy (best rate of climb speed - 79KTS ). What they say is true, with only one person in the airplane, it does climb much faster. With no wind to speak of, the flight track down-runway was straight, and soon, climbing through 700’ it was time to turn left-crosswind into the traffic pattern. Turning onto the left-crosswind track at 2700 RPM, still climbing for 1000’, then at 1000’ reduce power to 2200 RPM, contact tower at midfield (“Worcester Tower, 26 Juliet is mid-field for touch and go”), get clearance for the touch and go…. Opposite the runway numbers now, make sure we’re below Vfe (max speed for flaps deployment = 103KTS), put in two notches of flaps and reduce power to 1500 RPM, let the airplane settle… then with the runway numbers at 45 degrees behind us and to the left, turn onto the base leg…. Continue on and anticipate the turn to final so the airplane is lined up on the centerline when the turn to final is completed….(AHH so that’s what those S-turns in training were for!), add one more notch of flaps… then… just monitor the altitude, attitude and speed, making small adjustments as necessary, and let the airplane do all the work. If everything works out as it should, the airplane will deliver you to the end of the runway in fine shape. Then its just a matter of choosing the proper time to flare the airplane… back on the yoke… back… back… back…. Hold ‘er steady….. back…..back, let it settle… (squeak-squeak)… Touchdown! That's all there is to it! Then its retract flaps, full power and off we go again. All three landings were good: one was ok, one was better than average, one was very good. The only tricky moment was being advised by the tower that “8226 Juliet is cleared #2 for landing behind a Cessna Skyhawk, contact tower with traffic in sight, extend downwind leg, will call you for turn to base”. ‘Spotted the traffic, called the tower, got cleared to land, same deal as before.... (squeak-squeak). N-I-C-E.

This descent included a full side-slip to get the airplane lower faster, since the extended downwind leg meant maintaining pattern altitude – no descending below pattern altitude (1000’) until cleared to land. (Slips are kind of a radical maneuver to the new pilot, because it places the airplane in an unusual sideways-nose-down attitude while dropping (lots of) altitude at the same time - an exciting maneuver.)

The flying part was easy today, the ground part was the hard part. After landing and still at near-flying speed, ‘got the direction from the tower to “taxi right onto Foxtrot, turn left onto Runway 33, right turn onto Echo, proceed to ramp, monitor Ground”. (YIKES) I think I asked 3 times for a repeat of all that before I could get it all straight in my mind. Then when I got to Runway 33, I asked the Tower to verify my location, which they did, before proceeding to the ramp. Just wanted to make sure I was where I was supposed to be. (Next time I know to ask for a progressive taxi, step by step.) The rest was cake. Got a ruined shirt out of the day - (when you solo, the instructor cuts the shirt tail off your shirt... a symbolic thing). A big congratulations from Jeff, and a huge sense of relief. The anticipation was a lot scarier than the flying, which wasn’t scary at all. More to come July 4th.

Tuesday July 4, 2006 - No Flight - Got my lesson time bumped by a pilot to had to retake his FAA check ride.

Thursday, July 6, 2006 - No Flight - Weather Minimums

POST SOLO FLIGHT & INSTRUCTION

Friday, July 7, 2006 - Lesson 18

74 Total Landings Includes 1 Today

(Aircraft:) <Pre-flight checklist completed>
(Aircraft:) "Worcester Ground, Good Morning, Piper Warrior 8226-Juliett ready for taxi from Amity with "Alpha".

(Ground:) "Warrior 8226-Juliett, proceed via Bravo to Runway 29-er, Hold Short Runway 29-er"

(Aircraft:) "26-Juliett, Hold Short, Runway 29-er"

(Aircraft:) <Taxi's to Hold-Short Position Runway 290, Pre-Takeoff checklist completed, comm frequency change - Worcester Ground to Worcester Tower >

(Aircraft:) Worcester Tower, Good Morning, Piper Warrior 8226-Juliett is ready for takeoff, straight-out"

(Tower:) "Warrior 8226-Juliett, proceed onto Runway 29-er, Position and Hold"
(Aircraft:) <Taxi into position on Runway 290, hold for departure>

(Tower:) "Warrior 8226-Juliett, you are cleared for takeoff, departing the pattern straight out"

(Aircraft:) "26-Juliett, cleared for takeoff, straight out"

So begins another lesson with Jeffery. Jeff had informed me we would be practicing a short-field-over-obstacle takeoff...

so it was, engage brakes, add full power, 2 notches of flaps... once engine reaches full rpm, release brakes, rotate at 60 KTS, climb over the short-field obstacle at Vx (63 KTS - Best Angle of Climb), once clear of obstacle, retract flaps, continue climbing at Vy (79KTS - Best Rate of Climb).

Once we arrived at 3500', Jeff told me we would be practicing instrument flying. First, he wanted me to get the feel for straight and level flight. So he said... "Close your eyes... put your chin on your chest... and just hold 'er straight and level". 3 seconds into it he says... "doing fine, just hold it steady"..... 7 seconds into it he says... "doing fine, just hold it steady"..... 10 seconds into it he says... "ok, open your eyes and look where we are". I was shocked to discover we were in a steep 45 degree right-turning bank, and headed so steeply down that no horizon was visible. YIKES. (YIKES!) "That's to show you, you can never believe what your body is telling you", he says. (GREAT.)

We next practiced standard rate turns, also under the hood, able to see only instruments, and nothing out the windows.

A standard rate turn is a shallow turn... at which speed will take 2 minutes to complete a 360 degree turn.

The formula for determining the proper angle of bank for a standard rate turn is based upon aircraft speed: Speed ÷ (divided by) 10, plus 1/2 of the result = proper bank angle. Therefore, at 200KTS, 200 ÷ 10 = 20. 20 + 1/2 the result = 30. Therefore 30 = the proper bank angle for a standard rate turn at a speed of 200KTS. At a speed of 100KTS, 100 ÷ 10 + 1/2 = 15; the proper bank angle for a standard rate turn at 100KTS in 15 degrees of bank.

We spent the remainder of the time, with me still under the hood, with Jeff playing traffic controller, giving me vector directions, "turn left to 220 degrees, maintain 2000", or "climb to 3500, turn right to 090 degrees". He gave me 30 minutes worth of vectors and altitude changes... then told me to contact the tower "8 miles NW of the airport for left closed traffic". A few vectors and minutes later, he asked me to contact the tower for permission to land. At that point, he had me remove the hood... we were lined up nicely on the centerline on final approach for an uneventful landing 30 seconds later.

More to come, Sunday July 9.

Sunday, July 9, 2006 - Lesson 19

80 Total Landings Includes 6 Today

Its hard to believe, 80 landings since April 22. It may sound like a lot, but given my proficiency level, its clear I'll need at least 80 more to get really comfortable with the various landing scenarios that will doubtlessly present themselves. Now that the solo is behind me, the remaining 20 (of the required 40 total) hours of dual instruction will be spend on 5 phases of learning: Instrument flying, Navigation (dead reckoning), Navigation (radio), Solo/Cross Country, and Short/Soft Field take offs and landings.

Today's lesson was a combination of "Stop and Go" landings utilizing techniques for Short and Soft Field Take-offs and Landings. Short field means just that - not much room to take off or land (take-off technique described below, so we won't go into it again). Soft field starts off as a normal takeoff, except we extend the flaps two notches (25 degrees) and begin the takeoff roll with the elevators in the full up position. As the airplane accelerates through 40 KTS... it wants to fly and it lifts off... but unfortunately... with full elevators, it is too slow to fly except through ground effect. If we were to continue the ascent out of ground-effect (that cushion of air low to the ground, produced by wings generating lift), the airplane would smack back down on the runway. So, once we lift off, at a very low airspeed (40KTS), we immediately lower the nose to gain speed and once we reach 60KTS, we retract the flaps and climb at the normal Vy speed. The purpose of this maneuver is to get the airplane off the ground and flying as soon as possible, since we assume the ground to be uneven, soft and cushy, perhaps a damp grass field possibly strewn with rocks, etc. Interesting and fun lesson.

The reverse is true upon landing... we maintain a very low airspeed (60KTS), which means the nose of the airplane is pointed higher than usual during the descent. Immediately upon touch down, we're hard on the brakes to stop the airplane's speed-roll over loose and unpredictable ground. We also tried to go to Southbridge (3BO) today for a couple of touch and go's but Southbridge had lots of airplanes launching and landing.... so we returned back to ORH to practice the soft/short field TO/Landings. More on Thursday.

Thursday, July 13, 2006 - No Flight - Weather Minimums

Friday, July 14, 2006 - Lesson 20

81 Total Landings - Includes 1 Today

Wow, today dawned a beautiful, clear, cool, crystal-blue sky day! Arrived at the airport at 6:30AM - by 7:00 we were flying. Got cleared to taxi to the hold-short area of runway 29-er, got cleared onto 29-er for position-and-hold, and finally got takeoff clearance.

Today, the weather was so perfect that when rotating through ground-effect, 26_Juliet behaved like the lady we know her to be, a silky-smooth rotation and climb, just like you'd experience on a jetliner, (but seldom on a small single-engine). Immediately after clearing 3500', Jeff had me put on the hood so we could work on the instrument requirements, and I spent the entire hour navigating to his pretend ATC directions.... "turn left to 260, descend to 2500".... "turn right to 360, climb to 3200"... "make a 360 left turn, maintain 3000 feet", etc etc etc.

The only stand-out moment, (apart from the smooth rotation) was, at one point, Jeff said... ok, take off the hood and look where we are. The last time he said that (July 7) we were flying at a 45 degree steep right bank, and pitched steeply down and "plummeting to the ground" (as he likes to say) - so I kind of wondered what I'd find when I took the hood off - (even though the instruments all said we were straight and level!)

Anyway.... what I saw was... that we were perhaps 1000 feet over a solid layer of clouds and pointed directly at Mt. Monadnock in NH. Only the top part of Monadnock was visible (rest was cloud-obscured), and the sun was rising over the cloud bank. The clouds appeared to be illuminated from beneath and golden on top. It looked like we were flying towards Mt. Kilimanjaro, the way the clouds encircled Mt. Monadnock with the sunlight on the clouds and beautiful clear blue-sky above us. Beautiful - Spectacular! I was really glad he paused the lesson to show that sight to me. The other cool thing is... we had left Worcester just 25-20 minutes earlier and were already closing in on Mt Monadnock - which is almost a 2 hour drive from Worcester. Amazing how flying cuts down the travel time.

Anyway, the lesson resumed with the hood back in place... the lesson ended with Jeff's vectors to the airport: Jeff telling me what to say to the Air Traffic Controller, since I couldn't see where we were in relationship to the approach pattern. The next time Jeff told me to remove the hood, we were 1000 feet above the runway and on final-approach. It was just a matter of adding some flaps, lining up on the centerline, throttling back to idle, and letting 'er settle down. Nice Landing, nice lesson. More on Sunday.

Sunday, July 16, 2006 - Lesson 21

82 Total Landings - Includes 1 Today

Wow, another gorgeous day, with light winds, blue skies and puffy clouds. I arrived at 7:30 AM, by 8:00 we were flying. Taxiing and take-off requests were honored immediately, but we were given a request by ATC to "position and hold" on the active runway while another aircraft cleared the runway. Once cleared, we were given permission to take off with a planned departure route to the south.

Today was an intro to VOR navigation and pilotage. The requirement for VFR flight in Class D Airspace is clear of clouds: 500' below, 1000' above and 2000' laterally. Many of the clouds were rather transparent so we flew through them which was kind of cool.

We climbed to 3500, and it became quite hazy, plus having to dodge clouds kept us occupied. Once at our altitude, the lesson in navigating began. We flew from Worcester to local airports: Southbridge, Gardner and Palmer, flying into CT and RI at various times. But today, I became Forest Gump....I didn't know where I was, where I had been or where I was going. Jeff told me I was terrible, that I was killing him.... that some day I would look back and smile on all of this. I told him I hope so. well, ok. I didn't have my reading glasses with me, so it was difficult to spot where we were on the map. Also, I kept losing my place on the map...looking up to fly the plane, then looking for landmarks on the ground, and by the time I looked back at the map we were in a different place... things move and change quickly underneath you... everything looks the same... at one point Jeff asked me to point out the Mass Pike to him and I pointed out a reservoir. When it is hazy, plus being new to pilotage and piloting, things are difficult to pick out. NOT GOOD.

The good thing is, whether you have a chart or not (but you'd better!), with the many navigation aids, like VOR, VORTAC, TRACON, RNAV, DME, ADF, GPS, it is really pretty hard to get lost. But here, the issue is learning how to use and quickly tune the various radios to get navigation guidance and cross-checks, and there are a LOT of options, which I won't go into here. The point is, it all has to become second nature: first and foremost, you have to fly the airplane, all the while you are avoiding other airplanes, listening and talking to ATC, referencing your progress on the chart, staying out of clouds, tuning your 4 radios to different radio beacons and nav aids, monitoring the instruments while you track to and from these beacons, nav aids or checkpoints, etc. It seems overwhelming, but not totally impossible.

Upon approaching the airport for landing, we were given a lot of different vectors, including being cleared for landing, and then at the last minute, an unexpected runway change, which meant a 270 degree turn to intercept a new runway, so we could avoid a landing Alligient Air 737 Jetliner. Wingtip vortices from large aircraft can be deadly to small airplanes, and we didn't mind the diversion. It was cool... upon landing, I noted that ATC had held-short the 737 from crossing our runway...so we could proceed to our ramp... a planeful of tourists waiting for us in a tiny airplane to get out of their way... Funny!

The final, cool thing was, before we took off in the morning, a young pilot, maybe 20 yrs old, showed up with his sister and her girlfriend with their beach towels and lunch baskets.... he pre-flighted a rental airplane, they hopped into the airplane and took off for Block Island, a 30 minute flight from Worcester, for a nice day in the sun at the beach. I figure if he can do it, I can do it. So maybe there is still hope for yours truly, Forest Gump. More later this week.

Thursday, July 20, 2006 - No Flight - Juliet Got Sick, and We Made a Good Decision.

Well, showed up at the airport as usual, did the pre-flight...fuel samples and all the rest - everything checked out fine. Then, got gassed up, since the tanks we pretty empty... checked the fuel again - everything fine. I completed the pre-flight, advanced the throttle to half-an-inch, mixture to full rich and started the airplane and taxied to the ramp for clearance to taxi to the runway. OOPS. We're sitting there at the entrance to the taxi-way.... I've got my finger on the mike button to call ground control for clearance to taxi... but I look over at Jeff.... and he's looking at me...

I say...."gee, that really doesn't sound right to me... does it to you? She's running rough, too..." I take my finger off the mike button and lock the brakes.... give 'er full throttle... and man... its like shake n' bake.... this thing is bouncing around like I don't know what... He does a few checks, fuel pump, magnetos, amps, vacuum... things still no better. We taxi back to the ramp.... lock the brakes again.... full throttle... full mixture.... man... bad-bad-bad. I suggested I'd be curious to see what happened if we switched fuel tanks - no better and maybe even worse. The topper is... Jeff reduces the throttle all the way down.... and the airplane is vibrating heavily... like a cylinder is not firing... as he leans the mixture control, the engine RPM increases and starts to smooth out. OH this is definitely not right. If the throttle is all the way out, and the mixture is all the way out, the engine should stop - not speed up!

Final decider for no-go... is he pulls the throttle all the way back... and mixture all the way forward (rich).... and the engine almost dies. Well, this is exactly the scenario in landing.... throttle off, mixture full rich... definitely don't want the engine to die on the turn to base or final approach.

I say all this to say... when we were sitting at the ramp... it would have been very easy - too easy... to just figure 'everything is fine, and the roughness will work itself out on the final engine run-up, or that things would just be fine in the air. The fact is that had we proceeded under the conditions presented, the engine would have -stopped- at the most critical time in the air - when approaching for a landing. Today was the best lesson ever: if unsure about conditions for takeoff, "just say no".

Saturday, July 22, 2006 - No Flight - Weather Minimums

Monday, July 24, 2006 - Lesson 22
83 Total Landings, Includes 1 Today

Man, I hate to keep saying it, but today was a perfect-perfect-perfect day. Arrived at 6:30 AM with a cloudless and near wind-less day; Juliet was feeling better (See July 20) - (a stuck carburetor float, btw), and we were flying by 7:00AM. A silky smooth lift-off into silky smooth air.

Dang, I forgot my reading glasses again, but I was a better prepared mentally for what was to come in the lesson, which was a continuation of the July 16 lesson - navigation by pilotage and VOR (Very-High-Frequency Omni Directional Range). VOR is a radio transmitter on a specific frequency... that transmits a slightly different signal on each degree of the compass. (Interested readers can find out more info on VOR here.

So, if you dial in a bearing on the VOR receiver and fly to that compass heading, the navigation (nav) radios can figure out and display whether you are flying TO the station on a "bearing" or away FROM the station on a "radial"... and display that information to you, along with also displaying visually any deviations -left or right- to the selected course. (If the bearing is 90 degrees, the radial for that bearing is 180 degrees.) When you're heading to the station, your VOR radio shows you that you heading "TO" the station and when you have passed it, the indicator on the display changes to "FROM", meaning you are now traveling away from the station, (see the TO/FROM in the picture below).

Most airplanes have at least two of these nav radios, and by using them both and "triangulating", you can figure out exactly where you are, if you don't already know. Its how basic navigation gets done, (generally speaking), (along with ADF), without using GPS - (which GPS is not usually taught to student pilots, since "its important to focus on the basics" as I am told).

VOR stations are scattered - thickly - around the country, so you are never far from one, or two, or even four or five. Plus, their broadcast is line of sight, so you can literally tune into a VOR station a hundred miles away or more, and fly right to it.

So today's lesson was using the charts and VOR to navigate to different airports on different bearings. I was able to follow our route pretty well on the chart, and was actually amazed to see things on the ground, exactly where the chart said they should be! We flew to Spencer Airport, Gardner Airport, headed into NH, then did a 180 back to Gardner and Spencer before heading back to Worcester. The rest of the flight, landing and tower communications were uneventful.

Jeff wants me to spend some time in the IFR simulator back at the school - which will also involve VOR simulation - which the FAA allows in place of actual IFR simulated flight in an aircraft. (Its cheaper and you can do "more" in a single lesson.) He also gave me a bit of homework, which is to put a list together of all local airports, all VOR stations, as well as the VOR, tower, ground, ATIS and FSS radio frequencies in use, runways in use and lengths, etc. I am getting the feeling I will soon be flying around the (local) countryside on my own. (YIKES!) I used to say - "flying is the easy part and landing is the hard part". Now I say... "flying and landing are the "easy" part, navigation is now the hard part". Truth is, its not really that hard, but it is complicated - and I haven't even yet discussed the different types of airspace (A, B, C, D, E, G) or requirements for flying into each. Its a LOT. (If any pilots reading this have any corrections or additions, pls send them along. ) More to come on Thursday.

Thursday, July 27, 2006 - No Flight - Weather Minimums

Saturday, July 29, 2006 - Lesson 23
84 Total Landings, Includes 1 Today

Today dawned another clear day, with temps in the 70s and light winds when I arrived at the airport at 8:00 AM.

Takeoff/landing and radio communications were fine, although I am still getting "feeds" occasionally from Jeff on what to reply to ATC at various times when I am not sure what they are asking. I do feel I am making progress on that front though, which is encouraging to me.

However, today was very frustrating for me - today we are working on VOR navigation but concentrating nearly all our efforts on pilotage by visual reference. The frustration I feel stems from the fact that - even though we have only done this a time or two before, I feel quite disoriented. The goal is to identify ground landmarks and reference them against the chart as we fly, so we can track our progress to our intended destination. Today, we flew to a number of local airports, from lots of different compass headings. The purpose in all this, is obviously - so I will be confident (and not get lost) when I begin solo flights away from the pattern. What makes this so difficult for me, I think, is that there is often haze - which doesn't help - and - things look <really> different from the air, plus you've got to fly the airplane straight and level, keep the instruments/airplane tracking the VOR radial, all the while trying to spot reference points on the ground and apply them to what you see on the chart, which you are constantly turning to match your direction of flight. Its like a juggling act!!! I am really having trouble sometimes even knowing if I am N/S/E/W of a destina